Two years after posting about his 30th orbit around the sun, my son is back in town for a visit! Camera: Polaroid BIG SHOT Portrait Camera (circa 1973)Film: FujiFilm FP-100c Color pack-film (Expire…

Alex is a "work friend" that became a dear friend over time, whose initials are "AF" which I find endlessly amusing. I've mentioned Alex elsewhere on this site, including my Instant Photography page and a previous post about Polaroid and PolaProjects. He is one of two key people who re-inspired me about instant and other film photography back in 2017-18.

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A door slammed. The maid screamed... No, wait, that was Snoopy launching his career as a great writer with a manual typewriter... 🙂 Actually, IRL... It was a gloomy morning in late May. A Metro North train from Stamford, CT to Grand Central Terminal. An old photographer with a backpack full of cameras and films.

This 2025 edition of the PolaCon NYC event was just like the last two: LOTS of people shooting each other with a wide variety of instant film cameras! As usual, I had a blast capturing portraits of all the interesting and fabulous people there, but it was inevitable that one or two people would pose me in front of the lens, instead of behind it...

I noticed Melissa as she was being photographed by someone else, standing in front of a seamless paper backdrop lit by a single "softbox" studio light. She seemed friendly, very comfortable in front of a lens, and had a certain style. When the other photographer was done, I told her I appreciated her look and asked if I could take a couple of photographs.

Sadly, this roll of found film got separated from the camera it came with, leaving me with only the roll and any images it contained, without a backstory. Kodak T-Max 100 is a professional black-and-white film, so finding a random roll of it could mean there's something interesting on it. Or not. It's kind of a crap shoot; a roll of the dice every time I send found film off to a lab to be developed.

Shooting a 35mm "pocket camera" loaded with Kodak Professional Portra 400 using Sunny 16 exposure settings... When I wrap up any trip to Los Angeles for family, business and/or pleasure, I always end with a visit to Venice Beach at sunset, before I head to the airport for a redeye flight home. The Camera This time, I planned ahead and brought the device I wanted to shoot with: a Rollei 35B "pocket" 35mm film camera.

Shooting a 35mm "pocket camera" loaded with Fujifilm Superia Premium 400 using Sunny 16 exposure settings... For the first time ever, on my way to to hang out with my son and visit a few clients, I flew across country -- NY to LA -- in the daytime. Staring out my north-facing window at the stunning geography, I realized all those evening and night flights, attempting to watch 2-3 movies and/or sleep a little, as I headed into inevitable jet lag, were a complete mistake!

Shooting a Miniature Camera with Expired Film. Makes sense to test a funky little vintage camera with expired film, so you don’t shoot new, fresh film only to waste it on crappy results if th…

Generally, this post is about the Retina cameras made in Germany but distributed by Kodak, because it was verboten to openly sell German goods for a long while after the war. In fact, Kodak AG bought the factory in December 1931 from August Nagel of Zeiss Ikon fame, keeping it on the down low during and after WWII. …

What is this odd looking device? It's the first "serious" SLR camera for 110 cartridge-format film, it was created by Minolta of Japan in 1976 (I was 15 years old). Previously, we tested the Minolta 110 Zoom SLR Mark II, which was launched in 1979 (when I graduated high school) and was not as well known, probably because it was launched a bit too late in the 110 game.

When I saw the Kraft Velveeta Mac & Cheese promotional 110-format film camera in an auction lot, I had to have it! Of course, I had low expectations -- the Velveeta-cam was obviously plastic, cheap, and cheesy -- but I wanted to shoot at least one roll of film in it. As it turned out, I won the auction lot that included the Cheese-Cam and I waited eagerly (with a bemused smirk) for its arrival...

When Polaroid released the Blue 600 "Reclaimed Edition" duo-chrome instant film, I was thrilled, and immediately bought 5 packs! To test the new film, I shot the first pack of eight exposures with great anticipation (previous post) in my favorite camera, the Polaroid SLR 680SE. Loved the moody, blue-duotone results! Remember: Polaroid 600 format filM has batteries built into each film pack, which powers the vintage 600 cameras!

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YouTube video by texolux

YouTube video by texolux

YouTube video by texolux

YouTube video by texolux

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